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NEW YORK — Andrew Ladd did what good captains do when times are tough.

After watching his Winnipeg Jets drop a third consecutive game, the captain put on a brave face and pointed a finger right at himself.

And his linemates.

Ladd has been the picture of consistency for the Jets this season and the Jets’ top trio has carried the offensive load for the majority of the 37 games played to date.

But as Ladd pointed out, that unit has no points during the past four games and the Jets have only won one of them, the latest setback coming in a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers before a sellout-crowd crowd of 17,200 at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

“For our sake, our line has to be better. We haven’t produced these last four or five games and for me, that’s probably been the difference,” said Ladd, who went 34 games without being held pointless in consecutive contests. “We’ve got to be better. We’ll make sure we are.

“We still feel like we’re generating chances, we’ve just got to put them in the net. Sometimes you have to go back to the nitty-gritty and put your work boots on, get to the net and try to make it happen.”

To deliver blame to only the top line for this recent swoon would be completely unfair, but it reveals a harsh reality for the Jets.

For most games, the Jets have been rolling three lines and the secondary scoring hasn’t been there enough in the majority of the losses.

Outside of Ladd (14) and Blake Wheeler (14), Evander Kane (13) is the only other guy with double digits in goals.

When the intensity of the games continues to rise during the stretch drive, the Jets simply can’t afford to be a one-line hockey team — especially when their power play continues to let them down.

“We know the situation is in our hands. We want to go in the front door to the playoffs, not the back door,” said Jets head coach Claude Noel. “We have to got to do a better job, find ways to win and we’ve got to get more from more people and we’ve got to get more from our power play.”

Not only did the Jets fail to connect on five power play opportunities — including a 5-on-3 that lasted 39 seconds — they gave up a shorthanded marker that completely changed the complexion of the game.

Rangers captain Ryan Callahan kept the puck on a 2-on-1 as Mats Zuccarrelo came out of the penalty box, made a nifty toe-drag to go around a diving Toby Enstrom and then showed great patience before roofing a backhand deke over Ondrej Pavelec at 3:11 of the second period.

Quite simply, the Jets never recovered.

“That’s obviously a large momentum swing in the game,” said Jets defenceman Ron Hainsey.

The Jets got another gift on the out-of-town scoreboard from the Montreal Canadiens and continue to lead the Southeast by four points over the Carolina Hurricanes, who still have three games in hand.

If the Jets can’t stop this slide quickly, their hold on a playoff spot will become perilous, if it isn’t already.

While it’s true the Jets have been running into a lot of desperate teams lately — the Rangers had been shutout in consecutive games — at some point they’re going to have to match or exceed the level of their opponent.

“For us now, as a team, we have to make a decision if we want to be there or not,” said Jets centre Olli Jokinen, who responded “absolutely” when asked if his team is good enough to qualify for the post-season party. “We still control our own fate, but at the same time you can’t wait for the last five games to make a push.

“We need every player to step it up. This is the time of the year where you have to raise your game, raise your level because the competition gets harder and harder and you start running out of games. We’ll figure this out.”

The Jets have 11 games left, including one on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders, to show they can put this latest bit of adversity behind them.

Rangers make Jets pay for poor PP with 4-2 win

The Winnipeg Jets lost their third straight game on Monday night, falling 4-2 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

The good news for Winnipeg is the Carolina Hurricanes are losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the third period. If the Habs can hold on for the win, the Jets would still have a four-point lead atop the Southeast Division.

Carolina will have three games in hand on Winnipeg (18-17-2) after tonight, and Washington will have two extra games to play.

The Jets will take on the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum.

Derek Stepan gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead 5:46 into the third when he buried a big rebound from a sharp angle, and then Rick Nash took advantage of Brad Richards slashing the stick out of Dustin Byfuglien’s hands, strolled into the zone and fired the insurance tally past Ondrej Pavelec with 6:53 to go in the game.